With regards to greed and all the chatter that has been going on here about that, here is my little rant from the Auction page. On the scale of greedy snakeyness in the Bitcoin mining world, i'd say we are about as low down the rung as it gets. If we wanted to go down the greed road, we could have built a pretty website and started selling bullshit preorders like everyone else. Instead we have gone open source group buy; a shared venture including all of you members of this bitcoin community. We are not making much money. We do it for the love.
Basically we are working with what we've got. Trust me, if we could get these out to you tomorrow we would. We are unfortunately entirely dependent on Bitfury getting chips to us. If the early October delivery comes true, there is a good chance that we may just be able to be some of the lucky few who get in early and actually make some money. As Neiq has said, that's how it works, a few people get units early enough to profit, everyone else chases the magical window and doesn't quite get there, or buys in (read block erupter USBs) without ever having a chance at ROI, just because its fun and exciting. Hell i have some of those; terrible investment, but their pretty cool. I also have a giant power munching 3 GH/s GPU rig costing me more than it makes, just because i like it and find it fun.
So i guess yeah, if your main motivation is a sound investment, you'd probably do better to buy shares in a bank or a mining company (as in iron ore mining, not bitcoin).... or, just buy some Bitcoin and hope the price jumps. But if you are excited about being a part of this crazy Bitcoin thing as it's springing into being, and are willing to take a gamble that may pay off, then get a miner, get ten. Thats how i'm approaching it. I too am in it for the thrill of the chase. I do it because i love it. Setting up this group buy and short run manufacture has basically become my unpaid full time job right now, and i'm not complaining, i chose to do it and i'm having fun doing it. If i was billing my hours spent however, i'd be down a whole lot of money.
On that topic, basically we have costed out a manufacturing scenario that leaves us making very little money. (largely because the boards we have created are not cutting corners like many others out there, they will be quality tech). This is not some giant money making venture for us. We would all make a lot more money just doing regular jobs. But that's not the point. There has been some talk about succumbing to the capitalist greed just like BFL and Avalon, who have basically rinsed people for millions of dollars. I find that comparison pretty rogue. In the end we are putting the final few miners to auction to generate a bit of extra cash to help us see this project through smoothly. At most we'll end up with a couple thousand extra, which could easily disappear into some unforeseen manufacture expense, or import duty or whatever. Hardly capitalist greed at its worst.
The miners are going to auction and people are paying what they are willing to pay. No one is being forced into anything. If you believe that $300 is a more reasonable price for the boards we are making, they were available at that price for weeks, the opportunity was there.
Ok, sorry for the long rant. I hope everyone feels happy and comfortable with things. Please send me a PM if you would like to have anything further explained or discussed.
Yours in Mine Love
Barntech
